How Do I Start a Business
How to Start a Parking Garages Business
Launching a parking garage can get you on the path to a secure financial future if you do it right. This article contains tips and advice that can make your business profitable, stable and built to last.
Thinking about opening a parking garage? We tell you what you need to know to get started.
How to Create Effective Parking Garage Business Plans
A great business plan will lay a strong foundation for growth in your startup parking garage.
Business plans address a wide range of issues, including startup financials. The financial chapter of your business plan is one of the first places investors and lenders look, so it needs to contain forecasts and budgets that are rooted in business realities rather than your personal best case scenario.
Subsequently, a thorough understanding of business plan financial basics is a prerequisite to effective business plan writing for parking garages.
Take a Look at Competitors
Prior to launching a parking garage in your area, it's essential to find out how many competitors you have. Use the link below to generate a list of competitors in your area. Just enter your city, state and zip code to get a list of parking garages in your community.
Is the local market large enough to support another parking garage? If not, you had better be sure that you are doing things much better than the competition.
Talk to People Who Are Already in the Business
Once you've finished assessing the competion, it's essential that you speak with somebody who is already in the business. If you think your local competitors will give you advice, you're being overoptimistic. What's in it for them?
However, a fellow entrepreneur who has started a parking garage on the other side of the country will be much more likely to talk with you, once they realize that you are not going to directly compete with them in their community. In that case, the business owner may be more than happy to discuss the industry with you. In my experience, you may have to call ten business owners in order to find one who is willing to share his wisdom with you.
How does one go about finding an entrepreneur who is running a parking garage who is willing to advise you because you live in different cities?
It's easy. Here's a link you can use to find a mentor outside of your area.
Parking Garage Acquisitions: Financial Considerations
Startup parking garages carry a host of financial risks and concerns. Without an operational history, it's hard to predict how your startup will actually perform in the marketplace.
Financial risk management requires you to at least consider the possibility of setting your startup plans aside to explore acquisition opportunities. Many entrepreneurs buy an existing business for the sole purpose of tapping into the financial benefits of an established customer base.
But most importantly, existing parking garages have documented financial histories. Although you can create pro forma earnings and financial statements for a startup, a business-for-sale should have a well-documented, multi-year history of financial performance.
Don't Rule Out Franchising
Your chances of achieving the entrepreneurial goal of achieving your top business goals are much greater when you franchise and leverage their successful brand and track record.
If you planning on starting a parking garage, it's worthwhile to assess whether franchising might help you avoid common entrepreneurial mistakes.
The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.
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